Episode 2631 (18th June 1986)
Plot Kevin and Sally return at 5.30am from Sheffield. They spot smoke coming out of the Rovers' door. Sally wakes the residents whilst Kevin tries to wake Bet. Ken phones the fire brigade. Percy is raised and he and Kevin get a ladder up to Bet's window. Bet wakes up and tries to escape but the fumes force her back to her room. She vomits and collapses. The residents move their cars and try to wake Bet. Kevin climbs up the ladder and smashes Bet's window. He climbs in as the fire engine arrives and the front windows explode. Kevin tries to drag Bet to the window, the firemen take over and carry Bet to safety. Kevin is proclaimed a hero and refuses to go to hospital; he's only inhaled some fumes. Bet is taken to hospital in an ambulance. Jack is worried that he might have caused the fire by putting the wrong fuse in. Gail feels she should tell Brian about her affair. Audrey advises her to leave it. The brewery tells Betty that they intend to pull the Rovers down. Cast Regular cast *Ken Barlow - William Roache *Emily Bishop - Eileen Derbyshire *Hilda Ogden - Jean Alexander *Bet Lynch - Julie Goodyear *Betty Turpin - Betty Driver *Susan Baldwin - Wendy Jane Walker *Ivy Tilsley - Lynne Perrie *Rita Fairclough - Barbara Knox *Mavis Riley - Thelma Barlow *Deirdre Barlow - Anne Kirkbride *Gail Tilsley - Helen Worth *Vera Duckworth - Elizabeth Dawn *Mike Baldwin - Johnny Briggs *Brian Tilsley - Christopher Quinten *Audrey Roberts - Sue Nicholls *Jack Duckworth - William Tarmey *Nicky Tilsley - Warren Jackson *Phyllis Pearce - Jill Summers *Terry Duckworth - Nigel Pivaro *Percy Sugden - Bill Waddington *Kevin Webster - Michael Le Vell *Martin Platt - Sean Wilson *Gloria Todd - Sue Jenkins *Tracy Barlow - Holly Chamarette *Alan Bradley - Mark Eden *Sally Seddon - Sally Whittaker Guest cast *Police Constable - Stephen Crane *Police Sergeant - John Pickles *Fire Chief - Matthew Scurfield *Fireman - Andrew Davey *Ambulance Man - Roy Duval *Ambulance Woman - Betsy Clewlow Notes *This well-publicised episode had a unique title sequence showing a photocaption montage of the dawn sky over tower blocks and towards a set of cooling towers (in reality, those of Agecroft Power Station, north of Salford - demolished since 1986). *The episode was given an unscheduled repeat on Thursday 19th June although transmission time differed in the ITV regions; for the Granada region and some others 9.00pm was the chosen time whereas for Thames Television in London, 10.30pm was the transmission time. It is possible that some ITV regions opted out of the repeat. *This episode was transmitted at 6.15pm to allow for World Cup coverage. *Viewing Figures: First UK broadcast - 22,750,000 viewers (1st place). This was the highest-rated episode of the year although it was calculated by BARB by combining the original transmission with that of the Thursday repeat - a practise that had enabled EastEnders to claim the number one position for most of the year and which had been a repeated complaint by Granada who knew that Coronation Street still had higher ratings than the BBC1 soap for first transmission of their respective episodes. Commercial releases This episode was included on the following commercial releases: *''Coronation Street 1986'' released by Granada and Windsong Video on 5th November 1990. *The 1986 disc of the Network DVD collection Coronation Street: The 1980s, released on 31st October 2005. Category:1986 episodes